Bangladesh court sentences five to death for war crimes

Dhaka: Five men have been given dead penalty on Monday, by a special tribunal of Bangladesh capital Dhaka, as they were indulge in a crime against humanity during the country's war of Independence.

The Chairman Justice Shahinur Islam, of The International Crimes Tribunal, found the five suspects guilty of the charges brought against them. The charges upon Md Esahaque Shikder, Abdul Gani, Md Awal, Md A Sattar Pada and Solaiman Mridha include rape of at least 15 women from Itabaria village of Patuakhali, murder, confinement, and torture of unarmed civilians. They were given death penalty for killing 17 people, vandalism, arson, abduction and torture in the same village during the Liberation War.

The five were sentenced to death for killing 17 people, vandalism, arson, abduction and torture in Itabaria village of Patuakhali during the Liberation War.

They were also sentenced to death for the rape of at least 15 women from the same village in 1971.

Moreover, the accused were involved with the Muslim League and Al- Badr, which is an auxiliary force of the then Pakistani occupation army, in the country's Patuakhali district, some 204km from Dhaka, said the war crime tribunal investigation agency.

Sources said that the accused were under police custody until the final verdict was declared by the tribunal at 10.30 am local time on Monday morning. the verdict stated that the five convicts should be hung until they were dead.

in addition, the death row convicts have the opportunity to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court within a month of the verdict.

The first tribunal was established in March 2010, almost after 40 years of 1971 war and the five convicts were the party leaders of opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, who were already executed for the 1971 war crimes.

It has been reported that over three million people were killed in the war.

Some extracts from the Sarmila Bose "Dead Reckoning " stated that it was one of the bloodiest wars in the past half-century. The violence was terrible and the victims were from every ethnic and religious group and from both sides of the political divide and Pakistani army officers, carried out military action against a political rebellion.